Taylor Swift never spoke after finishing a song.

Instead she would stand there silently, her mouth half open, soaking it in, and she would look up to the left, and then to the right.

It was sufficiently awkward, but you would do the same if the screams you elicit are louder than those for the entirety of the UK basketball team put together.

Caroline Goode, a math-economics freshman, summed up the crowd demographic.

“I love Taylor Swift,” Goode said. “The little kids next to me are annoying though.”

The legendary crowds of Rupp Arena reached a whole new decibel Saturday evening as Taylor Swift took the stage for her Speak Now World Tour. The audience could only be described as a pre-teen rave party, with mostly young girls sporting glowsticks, T Swift t-shirts, and screams that miraculously would not tire or cease. Coordinated efforts produced lit signs that spelled out “We love Taylor” and “13” (Taylor Swift’s lucky number).

The opening act, a pleasant experience provided by country-rock hybrid Need to Breathe, traditionally warms up the crowd before the main attraction, but this crowd needed no such warm-up.

“You all are gonna have an amazing experience tonight,” lead singer Bear Rinehart prophetically said.

A plush red curtain was pulled open to deafening screams and Taylor Swift singing “Sparks Fly.”

The stage and scenery could be described as a Swift-style fairy tale. A gold staircase led up to a gazebo, with a digital screen in the back portraying visual imagery of Swift’s songs.

The show was visually pleasing in its production. It was sometimes more like a play than a concert, with actors coming on stage to perform.

Actors dressed in country-nostalgia clothing sat on a dimly lit porch and accompanied “Our Song” and “Mean,” and then snow began falling as actors dressed in black-tie played violin to Swift’s piano for “Back to December,” cleverly and innovatively intertwined with One Republic’s “Apologize.”

Each song offered something new, whether it was a new act or new special effect (really, the only predictable part of the concert were Swift’s open-mouthed glances to the left, and then to the right).

Swift herself came off as a bit artificial. She relied on the music and the show to entertain, more so than her personality. Everything she said to the audience was overtly corny and superfluous.

“I really love coming to see you guys. I think you guys are so ridiculously nice,” she said to a fresh roar from the crowd. “You guys are so cool.”

Her heart was in the right place, the dialogue just came off as a bit insincere.

But we do not go to concerts to be sincere. We go to concerts to be entertained and to hear good music, and Swift did not disappoint. Her lyrics are clever, often moving, and it is a tribute to an artist when each song is just as well known as the next.

From initial songs like “Mine” and “The Story Of Us” to “Fearless,” and finished off with “Love Story” as Swift floated around a basket-balcony contraption to the crowds in the upper deck, each song was sung just as loudly as the next by the crowd, with tears and a fresh round of screams handy for each and every conclusion.

Swift also began to noticeably tire, even to the point of admitting it herself.

“My voice is not exactly here tonight,” Swift said. “But I love you guys.”

Often, she pulled the microphone away for a quick and subtle cough before putting on a smile and bravely continuing. Voice ailments were forgotten by the time she finished her first set with “Long Live,” dedicated to all of her adoring fans (whose voices and screams, unfortunately, were not as shaky as Taylor’s).

You cannot help but leave a Swift concert smiling. If you like her music, it was everything you expected it to be. If you don’t like her music, you still left humming each tune. It was sometimes hard to take her seriously. Her tacky dialogue with the crowd didn’t help, and when she tried to be serious with more emotional songs like “Last Kiss” and “Never Grow Up,” a poorly timed round of screams erased any type of sober tone she was trying to set.

But as I said, you couldn’t help smiling. What she lacks in genuineness she makes up for in sweetness, and her endurance through and passion for her songs, despite the voice problems, was admirable.

“In sickness and in health I absolutely adore you,” Swift said, finishing with a slow glance to the left, and then to the right.

It’s hard to not adore you too, Taylor.